Welcome to Whoville
John 3:27 John replied, “No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven.28 You yourselves know how plainly I told you, ‘I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for him.’29 It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the bridegroom’s friend is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success.30 He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.
WHO is an amazing word of declaration!! Statements "Who did it" and "Who Dat?" and "Who's There?" It is an amazing word when it comes to "Who is the main person?"also. And of course, we believers know it is Jesus who is the main person in our story. In our attempt to put skin on Jesus we put great praises on humans who are living and also on humans who have died to elevate their greatness as an example. There is only one example of greatness for believers and it IS Jesus! John the Baptist was baptizing "in water" a large number of people with a baptism of repentance. And in that act alone he was preparing the way for the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and that is Jesus. In the above scripture John is replying to his disciples who brought information that there was another who was baptizing and more people were going to Him. Although scripture states that Jesus never baptized...John 4:2 (though Jesus himself didn’t baptize them—his disciples did).
This was John's chance to "hand off" the partial to the full and "pass the mantel" to the Messiah. And of course, John did just that as he said in verse 28 28 You yourselves know how plainly I told you, ‘I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for him. 30 He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. John passed off the What to The Who!! He was baptizing a water baptism of repentance, which was the WHAT! When Jesus came He changed it from the What to The Who. People were not going to be able to keep living from their change of heart, which is the what. But now they were going to live from a total life change given by the Son of God. This change was not temporal, but eternal and that very fact is the basis for the faith we now live in. A faith that is grounded in The Who of our faith, and that is Jesus Christ, The Messiah, the basis for living our life.
When living in Whoville we get the Holy Spirit to not only guide us, but minister to us and through us as only the Holy Spirit can. When we accept Jesus into our lives He is really there and we don't look at Him as something distant and religious. We receive His righteousness in our core and we are changed from the inside out. We live in the WHO!! And the who is Jesus! Without the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit we begin to live our lives from our own feelings about how to live life and that pool dries up quickly. Our righteousness is worthless as Isaiah said in 64:6 We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.
So....if you have invited Jesus into your life and you now realize He is your savior, your friend, your comforter, and many other things then Welcome to Whoville, and Jesus is the who in your life. Paul wrote to the church at Galatia in Galatians 2:20 20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. There it is. Citizenship in Whoville. WELCOME!!!
The Pilgrimage Continues.....
David Warren